Area Muslims worry bombings will trigger stereotypes

Leaders of the Islamic Center of Boston expressed concerns the identification of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings as Muslims with links to Chechnya would trigger stereotypes their religion supports and promotes terrorism.

By Chris Bergeron/Daily News staff

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Chris Bergeron/Daily News staff

Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 8:04 PM

By Chris Bergeron/Daily News staff

Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 8:04 PM

WAYLAND

» Social News

Leaders of the Islamic Center of Boston expressed concerns the identification of two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings as Muslims with links to Chechnya would trigger stereotypes their religion supports and promotes terrorism.

Following the regular Friday prayer service, Malik Khan told members the best way to overcome misunderstandings should be "through our actions as upright Muslims.’’

The former two-time president of the Wayland center urged members to, "Let people know who we Muslims are.’’

"There is evil across humanity. The acts of one or two people don’t reflect us as Muslims,’’ said the engineer from Boxborough who came to the United States from Pakistan in 1975. "The best we can do is to follow the teachings of our religion and show our communities we are good neighbors, good parents and good Americans.’’

Noting many members had immigrated to the United States and become citizens, Khan said he was proud to call himself "an American’’ because there is "no contradiction’’ between following the Constitution and the tenets of Islam.

Islam is a monotheistic religion that originated in the Arabic peninsular around 600 A.D. Islam, which means "submission,’’ is based on the laws of Allah, or God, as communicated to the Prophet Mohammed and recorded in its sacred text, the Quran.

Addressing about 20 people who remained after prayers on Friday, Khan cited a verse from the Quran which condemns murder or the taking of life.

He said, if anyone kills a person except in self-defense, "it is as if he had slain mankind directly. And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved mankind directly.’’

During the regular 1 p.m. Friday service, prayer leader Hossam Al-Gabri said Muslims could show others "through your behavior’’ that Islam, like Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, promotes respect for all faiths, charity toward the elderly and poor and condemns violence.

After the service, Khan and several center leaders discussed how members should respond to the news that brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suspects in the Marathon bombings on Monday, were believed to be Muslims with family ties to Chechnya in Russia.

Khan said he didn’t know if any people from Chechnya attended the center. He speculated that Muslims in that isolated region might feel "hopeless" because of oppression from Russia.

Khan said he is "not worried about the security’’ of the Wayland center but is saddened that over the last 15 years "a certain environment has been created in the U.S.’’ that continues to paint Muslims as supporters of terrorist movements around the world. "Over the years the misunderstandings and stereotypes have leveled at a certain plateau,'' he said, "but that plateau is quite high.’’